BELL COMMENTS ON SEPT. 11 POETRY (Newsday, Jn. 31)
A story about the poems written in reaction to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks quotes Iowa's Poet Laureate MARVIN BELL. "A lot of people have reacted with whatever they do," said Bell, a longtime professor at the University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop. "The truth is, I didn't plan on writing anything. ... When I couldn't sleep late at night, I ended up writing something." The Center Moriches, N.Y., native said it was difficult to find words for the emotions stemming from the images of the attacks. "It's overwhelming. It's like trying to write about the Holocaust," he said, speaking from his home in Sag Harbor, where he spends several months a year. "The event trumps almost anything you can think of." The task for poetry, he said, is to mix "the inside with the outside, what's inside you and what's outside you. ... The reason we have the arts is because there are no words for emotions. All of the arts are finally about what emotions feel like." His poem, "Sounds of the Resurrected Dead Man's Footsteps," seeks out meaning in the carnage: Now I am the dead, all the dead, and you and you shall be all of them also. We became them by absorption. We must deal with life which is also death. Love is not pretty.http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/local/newyork/ny-p2cover2570643jan31.story

AHRENS, WEINBERGER DISPUTE DRUG CLAIMS (Yahoo! News, Jan. 31)The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the asthma drug Xopenex (levalbuterol) for use in children ages 6 to 11, the drug's maker, Sepracor Inc., announced Thursday. The drug is administered by a nebulizer to treat bronchospasm, in which the airways inside the lungs constrict, making breathing difficult. In addition to not aggravating asthma, Xopenex appears to be safer than some of its competitors, according to Dr. Gene L. Colice, who serves as a consultant to Sepracor and has conducted research for the company. But not all researchers agree with Colice's view. University of Iowa physicians Drs. RICHARD AHRENS and MILES WEINBERGER wrote in an editorial published in the November 2001 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology that "the available data provide no evidence that levalbuterol is any safer or more effective than doses of racemic albuterol that contain equimolar doses of R-albuterol." Further, "considering the greater cost that is currently associated with Xopenex (R-albuterol), routine use of this product has the potential to increase the cost of asthma care without identified benefit," Ahrens and Weinberger noted.http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020131/hl_nm/asthma_drug_1

MCLEOD ATTENDED UI (Yahoo! Finance, Jan. 31)In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he's known as the local "Bill Gates," but Clark McLeod's remarkable rise from schoolteacher to multimillionaire entrepreneur hit a bump on Thursday when his company, McLeodUSA Inc., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. McLeod, the 55-year-old son of a schoolteacher, has lived most of his life in Cedar Rapids. After two years at the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA and two more at Coe College, he graduated with a mathematics degree in 1968.http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/020131/n31234353_1.html

RECKER: RAMS WILL WIN BIG (Sporting News, Jan. 31)A columnist asked a host of celebrities and sports figures whom they expected to win Super Bowl 36, which will pit the St. Louis Rams against the New England Patriots. LUKE RECKER, a forward on the University of Iowa men's basketball team, said, "Rams, big. Kurt Warner, MVP."http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/sn/20020131/sp/celebrity_super_bowl_picks_1.html

UI WRESTLER STILL IN COMA (Baltimore Sun, Jan. 30)
An Iowa wrestler injured in a traffic accident shows little sign of awakening from a coma. Ryan Heim incurred a head injury Jan. 21 when the van he was driving hit a patch of ice and collided with a semitrailer truck. He remains in intensive care at University Hospitals. His condition was upgraded from critical to stable on Monday. "Comas are very hard to figure out," Dr. TODD MCKINLEY said Wednesday. "It's really unknown when he may come out of the coma. "He's shown some (of) what we call purposeful movement, certainly with his right arm and maybe a little bit with his left arm and leg. But it's very unpredictable." Heim is on a respirator. McKinley said a feeding tube soon will be surgically inserted into his stomach. "There are times when he appears to really be wrestling us and kind of getting a little bit agitated with us, trying to get him to move his hand or to open his eyes," McKinley said.http://www.sunspot.net/sports/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-iowa-heim0130jan30.story

KNIGHT CRITIC HAD OFFER TO TEACH AT UI (New York Times, Jan. 30)Former Indiana University basketball coach Bob Knight has found success with his new team at Texas Tech. Knight had to be dragged kicking, screaming and suing from the Indiana job he had held for nearly three decades, and should by now be realizing it was best for everyone. He deserved to be fired for his habitual antisocial behavior. He needed to go where there were no blood stains on the walls or skeletons in the closets, and where his autocracy could be tolerated, as long as he won games. With the exception of a few lingering lawsuits, people have moved on, except for Murray Sperber, Knight's longtime campus critic. Forced to flee Bloomington on a leave of absence when Knight fever was so high that he feared for his safety, Sperber moved back last spring to the school he had taught at for as long Knight had coached. Like Knight, Sperber had an opportunity to go elsewhere, an offer to teach journalism at the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, and was all charged up for the challenge. Sperber stayed on at I.U., when heart problems landed him in the hospital last summer. His wife, Aneta, dissuaded him from going to Iowa and helped talk him into purchasing a California retirement home, which he plans to inhabit in a couple of years.http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/30/sports/ncaabasketball/30ARAT.html

ARREST MADE IN MURDER OF EX-UI EMPLOYEE (Associated Press, Jan. 30)
The investigation of a 20-year-old murder comes to an end this week when police charge a man already serving a life sentence for a rape-kidnapping, is charged this week with killing Vicki Klotzbach, said Coralville Police Chief Barry Bedford. Dodd used a flashy, cowboy-style gun to shoot Klotzbach in the back of the head after raping her on Oct. 21, 1981, police say. Bedford, who was a detective in 1981, remembers when Vicki Klotzbach's mother and brother came to the Coralville Police Department on Oct. 21 of that year to say Vicki, 22, hadn't shown up for her lab technician's job at the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA. Bedford said investigators believe Klotzbach may have taken an evening walk on Oct. 20 when she was ambushed by Dodd just north of Interstate 80 near an apartment complex on an isolated dirt road. http://proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/login?url=http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=4ad79d09ccb1934a433a83071aa85373&_docnum=1&wchp=dGLStk-lSlzV&_md5=e8ce2505d1cf59f4601714e09a210ec2

UI STUDENT LEADS TRIVIA TEAM (Chicago Tribune, Jan. 30)
A story about Lawrence University's 37th annual Midwest Trivia Contest -- a 50- hour marathon that ran last weekend in Appleton, Wisconsin -- says the team that has adapted to the times best may be the one captained by John Brogan, a UNIVERSITY OF IOWA law student who returns to his parents' home in nearby Kaukauna each January for the contest. His parents go on vacation and Brogan and his two dozen teammates -- some from as far away as San Francisco, Seattle, the District of Columbia and Sarasota -- move in. With extra phone lines installed, 15 to 20 computers and laptops and the search engines that they designed, it's an impressive high-tech operation. Not exactly what one traditionally associates with a trivia contest, but it's a sign of the times. "We personally think that everything is out there. The Internet is so big, such a depository for junk, human detritus, that we'll find anything," said Brogan, whose team's full name this year was The Piggy Bank of Kaukauna: The Snout with Clout.http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0201300009jan30.story

ALY PENS ARTICLE ON WEIGHT-REDUCTION SURGERY (Yahoo! News, Jan. 29)AL ALY, M.D. an assistant professor of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Iowa, is the author of an article on weight reduction surgery, which is one of the most rapidly growing areas of surgery in the United States today. He says the boom has been fueled by a growing public desire for rapid weight-loss, along with recent advances in surgical techniques and increased scientific knowledge about obesity. The story, which originally ran on ABCNEWS.COM, was reprinted on Yahoo! News at:http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/abc/20020129/hl/lipectomy_expert020129_1.html

UI RECEIVES $1 MILLION FOR HYGIENICS LAB (Associated Press, Jan. 29)
The UNIVERSITY OF IOWA HYGIENICS LABORATORY has received a $1 million grant to help become the Midwest's leading laboratory in the national effort to prevent bioterrorism, university President MARY SUE COLEMAN said Monday. A special congressional appropriation was approved in late December. The effort to get the money for the laboratory was spearheaded by Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat, and Rep. Jim Leach, a Republican. "We proposed to be the hub of the Midwest for monitoring bioterrorism threats," Coleman said. The laboratory would coordinate work with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, she said. Some of the money is expected to help pay for a new hygienics lab, which would help scientists consolidate research efforts and improve security.http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=de85f8f5b20cc469c708350c31dcf6f8&_docnum=2&wchp=dGLStS-lSlAl&_md5=ecda36091c602e30e5da4937a75784ae

MATTHEW: DRUG MAY HELP ENLARGED HEART (St. Paul Pioneer Press, Jan. 28)
A drug used to treat high blood pressure appears to be able to reverse enlargement of the heart and reduce the risk of complications and death from this disorder. In a 4 1/2-year study of 8,281 patients, the drug ramipril (Altace) was able to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death by 25 percent compared with patients not taking the drug, said Dr. JAMES MATHEW of the University of Iowa College of Medicine. Heart attacks were reduced by 20 percent and strokes by 32 percent. Although it is not known how ramipril works to reverse or prevent enlarged hearts, its mechanism of action is separate from its ability to lower blood pressure, Mathew reported in Circulation: Journal of the American
Heart Association.

WARREN: THUMB SUCKING RISKY AFTER AGE 2 (Toledo Blade, Jan. 28)
There is a strong relationship between thumb-sucking and bite problems in small children, a University of Iowa study finds. The study, led by JOHN WARREN of the University of Iowa and published in the Journal of the American Dental Association, focused on 372 Iowa children up to age 5. Sucking is a natural reflex which comforts infants and young children, Warren said. Any recommendation to stop thumb, finger, or pacifier sucking before a child is 2 years old would be unrealistic, potentially detrimental, and unnecessary from a dental standpoint. But, Warren said, after a child is 2, the habit can be harmful to dental health.
A version of this article also ran Jan. 28 in the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER.
A version of this article also ran Feb. 4 in the ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS.
A version of this article also ran Feb. 3 in the HONOLULU ADVERTISER.

UIHC SAFETY METHODS HIGHLIGHTED (Nurseweek-California, Jan. 28)
In the wake of some high-profile medical errors leading to patient deaths nationwide, many hospitals are looking for ways to improve patient safety. The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics has several safety initiatives in progress. Among other things reported by LINDA CHASE, M.A., R.N., associate director of nursing, the organization has written new policies on checking first doses of medications and double-checking chemotherapy by nurses before they are administered. Her organization has revised its falls risk assessment tool and now requires witnessed drawing of blood samples for typing and cross-matching.

UI MERGER OF MEN'S, WOMEN'S ATHLETICS CITED (Yahoo! News, Jan. 28)
When the UNIVERSITY OFIOWA's longtime women's athletic director retired in 2000, Iowa merged its separate men's and women's athletics departments. It brought a bittersweet end to a proud era -- and a possible lesson for the University of Minnesota, a Big Ten peer. Iowa sees itself as a leader in gender equality. With the merger, Iowa women's second-in-command, PAULA JANTZ, lost the very structure of a program she helped build. But women's athletics, for the first time since the department's founding in 1973, gained much-desired financial stability. "We've had a tremendous history and tradition of women's athletics," says Jantz. "But you have to be realistic. It hasn't always been easy. But change isn't easy. And change isn't always bad." The story, which originally ran in the ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, was republished on Yahoo! News at:http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/krstpaul/20020128/lo/iowa_offers_u_a_lesson_in_merger_of_athletics_1.html

LIKE UI, MINNESOTA CONSIDERS ATHLETICS MERGE (Pioneer Press, Jan. 28)
When the UNIVERSITY OFIOWA's longtime women's athletic director retired in 2000, Iowa merged its separate men's and women's athletics departments. It brought a bittersweet end to a proud era -- and a possible lesson for the University of Minnesota, a Big Ten peer. The University of Minnesota is one of only five remaining Division I universities with separate men's and women's athletic departments. http://www.pioneerplanet.com/yhoo/mtc_docs/235906.htm

BLANCK COMMENTS ON ADA RULINGS (National Law Journal, Jan. 28)After losing a string of disability rights cases in the U.S. Supreme Court over the past three years, disability activists are wondering whether it's time to turn to Congress for help. The high court, beginning with a trio of rulings in 1999, has focused on the definition of disabled in the context of the workplace challenges under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. PETER BLANCK, director of the Law, Health Policy & Disability Center at the University of Iowa, said: "Perhaps we have reached the high-water mark now, where members of the disability community say, 'This ain't what we intended and we'd better go back and fix it or live with it.'"

IEM CITED IN MARKET RESEARCH (New York Times, Jan. 27)
In M.I.T. Professor Ely Dahan's marketing class, students do not trade securities but the traits of various goods and services, like automobiles and ski resorts. The exercise is part of an effort by Professor Dahan and colleagues at M.I.T. to prove that simulated trading could answer that most basic of all product development questions: What do consumers want? Dahan's research was inspired by the earlier successes of several Internet-based trading exchanges that have been called "decision markets" by Robin Hanson, an economics professor at George Mason University. The most renowned one, the IOWA ELECTRONIC MARKETS, has often outperformed pollsters in predicting election results. The market, operated by the Henry B. Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa, permits investors to buy and sell shares in a candidate, based either on how much of the vote they expect the candidate to receive or simply on whether the candidate will win or lose. Under a special clearance from the Securities and Exchange Commission, the market accepts investments of up to $500, giving participants an incentive to invest seriously without running afoul of laws that ban gambling.http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/27/business/yourmoney/27TRAD.html

COLLOTON COMMENTS ON BAXTER CEO (Chicago Tribune, Jan. 27)
A profile of Baxter International Inc. Chief Executive Harry Jansen Kraemer Jr. says that although he routinely works 70 hours a week, he schedules his work around his family. "A lot of people in his position would say, 'Call me day or night,' but he has his time allocated and his weekends are protected for his family," said Baxter board member JOHN COLLOTON, retired director of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0201270013jan27.story

WARREN WARNS OF THUMB SUCKING DANGERS (Seattle Times, Jan. 27)
Children who use a pacifier or suck their thumbs at age 4 or beyond run a greater risk of developing an overbite and of altering the way their jaws fit together, says a recent study in The Journal of the American Dental Association. "The results of the study suggest some potential harm in continuing habits beyond 24 months of age, with greater risk of developing occlusal problems with ... habits persisting to 48 months of age and beyond," writes Dr. JOHN WARREN, assistant professor of preventive and community dentistry at the University of Iowa and the lead author.http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/healthscience/134395788_healthvitals27.html

UI PRESS BOOK FINALIST FOR AWARD (Minneapolis Star Tribune, Jan 26)
A book by Don Scheese "Mountains of Memory: A Fire Lookout's Life in the River of No Return Wilderness" published by the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA PRESS is listed one of finalists for the 14th annual Minnesota Book Awards to be presented April 12 in St. Paul.

UI WORKSHOP 'FIRST AND MOST FAMOUS' (Washington Post, Jan. 25)A story about the Writers Center in Bethesda, Md., says that creative writing classes first appeared in college curricula in this country as early as the turn of the century, but it wasn't until 1936 that the first and most famous writing program was founded at the University of Iowa. THE IOWA WRITERS' WORKSHOP has served as a model for other university programs, and many of the workshop classes offered today are founded on principles established there.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31655-2002Jan24.html

STUDY TRACKS DRUG ARRESTS AT UI (Associated Press, Jan. 25)The University of Iowa is one of five public colleges with enrollments over 28,000 that had the highest number of drug arrests last year, according to a new report. The study published in "Chronicle of Higher Education" said Iowa was one of five universities with more than 125 drug arrests in 2001. The other schools were Penn State University, Michigan State University, Indiana University and the University of California at Berkeley. Among those five, Iowa had the most drug arrests last year at 205. Penn State was second at 175. CHUCK GREEN, UI director of public safety, said better reporting, stronger law enforcement and increased drug activity all could be factors in Iowa's numbers. "It's hard to look at straight statistics and say there's been an increase in drug activity," he said. "But I will say that there is drug activity here, and it's not going away." However, DAN ROSSI, vice president of UI Student Government, said he doubted drug activity has increased at the school. "A lot of it seems to me to be more the police are targeting students somewhat more," he said. "I haven't heard any complaints about increased drug use. There are not students coming to me saying people are smoking pot in their dorm."http://proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/login?url=http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=d4ba270c37f8746d7082714c2d0d4423&_docnum=1&wchp=dGLStV-lSlAl&_md5=1d6e89d6faf132f3916e867dbf16b98b

UI EXPECTS $300 MILLION IN GRANTS, CONTRACTS (Associated Press, Jan. 25)The school's president says the University of Iowa could receive more than $300 million in grants and contracts this year, three years ahead of schedule for reaching that target. "We may break through this year," MARY SUE COLEMAN said Thursday during her annual address to Iowa City-area service clubs. "We anticipate another banner year." The target is part of the UI's five-year strategic plan. Last year, grants and contracts totaled $277.9 million. Between July and December, grants and contracts totaled $184.5 million, a 25 percent increase over the same period last year. Given the state of the economy, the growth in industrial grants and contracts was rather surprising, said BRIAN HARVEY, assistant vice president for research and director of the division of sponsored programs. ... This year, the colleges of Medicine and Public Health will likely bring in $200 million on their own, said Dr. ROBERT KELCH, vice president for statewide health services, director of University Health Care and dean of the College of Medicine.http://proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/login?url=http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=d4ba270c37f8746d7082714c2d0d4423&_docnum=2&wchp=dGLStV-lSlAl&_md5=cc8e1c8096151c86ebc7cf75b9932cf3

YANK: NCI PROCESS IS RIGOROUS (Business First of Louisville, Jan. 25)An article about the University of Louisville's attempt to earn a National Cancer Institute designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center notes that there are 41 other comprehensive centers at hospitals across the country, including the University of Iowa. The process of earning the designation is rigorous, said TED YANK, associate director for administration at the HOLDEN COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTER at the University of Iowa. He cautioned that "if you were starting from scratch, it would take a long time" and that "it's really a multiyear process to get a designation." The Holden center received the NCI designation in June 2000.http://louisville.bcentral.com/louisville/stories/2002/01/28/story4.html

UI STUDY: LIMIT RISKY SURGERY LOCATIONS (Palm Beach Post, Jan. 25)
Open-heart surgery and angioplasty patients have a significantly better chance of surviving if they get the care in a state like Florida that limits the hospitals that can provide the services, according to a study released Thursday. The study, undertaken by the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA College of Medicine, was commissioned by the Florida Hospital Association and found that death rates in states that dont regulate the services are 21 percent higher than in states that do regulate them.

FOLLETT TESTIFIES IN OHIO (Toledo Blade, Jan. 25)
Dr. KENNETH FOLLETT, a neurosurgeon at the University of Iowas College of Medicine, testified in the trial of an Ohio neurosurgeon who was accused of performing experimental surgeries on two Michigan women without their consent. The doctor was accused of performing an experimental brain surgery, which was designed to relieve chronic facial pain, without the informed consent of his patients. Follett said the procedure wasnt experimental and the success rate for motor cortex stimulation varies from 60 to 80 percent.

UI GRADUATION CONTRACT IS MODEL (Lexington Herald-Leader, Jan. 24)
Students at the University of Kentucky would like the university to offer a graduation contract under which students would agree to stay on track to graduate by passing classes and taking a full load and in return the university would agree to pay the extra tuition if students had to stay longer than four years because required courses werent available when they needed them. Kentuckys faculty and academic leaders are interested in the idea, which is done at schools such as the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA and Indiana University with varying degrees of success.

CLEFT LIP TIED TO BRAIN ABNORMALITY (Investors Business Daily, Jan. 24)
People born with mild forms of cleft lip of cleft palate, or both, seem to have brain abnormalities that might be the direct cause of language disabilities and other problems, UNIVERSITY OF IOWA researchers said in Genetics in Medicine.

BLANCK STUDY CITED (People Management, Jan. 24)For almost 30 years, U.S. laws have been in place to outlaw disability discrimination in employment, culminating with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The United Kingdom has recently adopted similar measures to boost the employment prospects of disabled people, for example through anti-discrimination legislation. Disabled employees give employers more "incentive to be proactive in recruitment." Manpower, the world's largest recruitment firm, provided 2.7 million temporary workers with jobs in 2000. Manpower's success in attracting and developing disabled employees is supported by a research study done by PETER BLANCK at the University of Iowa. The study cited is the Emerging Role of the Staffing Industry in the Employment of Persons with Disabilities. People Management is based in the United Kingdom.

FARMER SUES UI FOUNDATION (Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 24)A farmer in Iowa is suing the University of Iowa Foundation, charging that its plan to sell a plot of land violates the wishes of the man who bequeathed the tract and undermines the farmer's ability to make a living off the land. "We've seen the lawsuit," said MICHAEL J. NEW, president of the University of Iowa Foundation, "we disagree with its claims, and we plan to defend ourselves."http://chronicle.com/daily/2002/01/2002012407n.htm

GROUP RAISING MONEY TO SUE FOUNDATIONS (Associated Press, Jan. 24)Fund-raisers say they expect thousands of dollars will be raised for a lawsuit by the group that wants Iowa's state university foundations to open their records. "We've seen a lot of support," Arlen Nicholls of Des Moines, the group's spokesman, said this week of the plan to sue the Board of Regents, State of Iowa. The informal group is made up of about a dozen people and organizations, including the Iowa Newspaper Association and the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. Nicholls said the group believes regents have the power to force foundations, which have raised hundreds of millions of dollars for the universities, to disclose their financial records. The regents disagree. Foundations at UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, Iowa State University and University of Northern Iowa say they are not subject to open-records laws.http://proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/login?url=http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=8eb8393f127a6041763d6331d418cc3b&_docnum=1&wchp=dGLStS-lSlzV&_md5=6ecbe330b9d564151ff4c319b1089aa9

SOLL STUDIES 3D CELLS (Associated Press, Jan. 24)
DAVID SOLL, a University of Iowa biology professor, heads a team of three scientists who have created a computer program to measure cell movement, a mostly unstudied phenomenon that could advance the study of cancer, certain blood diseases, and most birth defects. "Every congenital defect, every chemical that affects an embryo, cannot be resolved without this machine," Soll said. "This will produce a whole new ballgame." The program also allows incipient life -- the first cells dividing and multiplying -- to be viewed three-dimensionally on a computer screen instead of two-dimensionally through the lens of a microscope. His 18-year development of "Project Motility" is one of the longest continually funded projects at the university, covering all of its expenses with $17 million in grants.http://proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/login?url=http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=8eb8393f127a6041763d6331d418cc3b&_docnum=2&wchp=dGLStS-lSlzV&_md5=78c7d1555938af1f9ce7343f6bede860

SULS COMMENTS ON RESEARCH FRAUD CASE (Chicago Tribune, Jan. 23)The University of Texas recently lured Karen Ruggiero away from Harvard, offering her $100,000 to set up her own psychology lab. Ruggiero's research seemed to solve a thorny puzzle: Why, when women and minorities are asked if they've been discriminated against, do they consistently answer "yes" in numbers that fall far short of the victimization level claimed by their advocates? Such underreporting, Ruggiero's research seemed to say, reflects the fact that women of lower status and minority women tend to blame themselves for failure, not to attribute it to discrimination, as women of higher status do. Now, Ruggiero stands accused of faking her research. JERRY SULS, a professor of psychology at the University of Iowa and editor of the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, which published some of Ruggiero's research in October 2000, says her confession cleared up a mystery. Other psychologists had tried reproducing her experiments, a basic procedure in science where one investigator double-checks the work of another. "Now they understand why they couldn't replicate her findings," says Suls, whose journal recently ran Ruggiero's retraction of her research.http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0201230024jan23.story

UI RESPONDS TO LAWSUIT OVER LAND SALE (Associated Press, Jan. 23)The University of Iowa Foundation has been sued by a central Iowa farmer for not following the wishes of a farmer who left land to the university. Larry Holtkamp of rural Dows filed a lawsuit in Franklin County District Court in late December, asking that the court either force the foundation to honor Donald Hackbarth's will or pay him the $320,000 he would have made farming the land. His suit contends that the foundation acted fraudulently by not revealing to Hackbarth that it planned to sell the land in Franklin County immediately after receiving it. Hackbarth, a resident of Colorado and a former Iowan, died in 1997. He left land in Colorado, Arizona and Iowa to the foundation to establish a fund to support children's services and intensive-care services at University Hospitals. The gift is valued at more than $1 million. In leaving the land, Hackbarth only stipulated that the foundation not sell the four parcels in central Iowa for at least 10 years. Holtkamp said the will also intended for him to continue renting the property until he retired. The foundation said Wednesday that Holtkamp's claim was not included. "That was not in the will," said SUSAN SHULLAW, vice president of communications and campaign support for the foundation. Hackbarth's will stated that "it is my direction, that the foregoing farmland ... shall not be sold sooner than 10 years after my death," according to the court documents. "Obviously, we've seen the lawsuit and we disagree with it and plan to defend ourselves," said MICHAEL NEW, the foundation's president.http://proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/login?url=http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=0ec84276c5f819f4969966a6294da161&_docnum=1&wchp=dGLSzV-lSlzV&_md5=5b1b3b5e2152dcee5a028e0be027c19c

NELSON PLANS TO REJECT ANY PLEA OFFERS (Associated Press, Jan. 23)An Iowa City woman will reject any prosecutors' offers for a plea agreement to drop first-degree murder charges for stabbing her husband, a dean in the University of Iowa College of Medicine. "We're definitely going to try the case because she's innocent," said William Kutmus of Des Moines, lawyer for Phyllis Nelson. Nelson, 54, was charged Dec. 12, the same day she allegedly stabbed RICHARD NELSON once in the heart with a black-handled knife. She was released from the Linn County Jail on Dec. 24 on a $25,000 bond and returned to her Iowa City home, where she has remained with her daughter, Emily Hansen. Phyllis Nelson's trial is set for March 11, but that date will likely be pushed back so both sides can continue legal preparations and investigation, Kutmus said. During the initial investigation, Cedar Rapids police learned Richard Nelson had issued his wife -- a substitute music-teacher -- divorce papers before the slaying, court records state. Other items police took from Phyllis Nelson's Iowa City home include a piece of paper with her husband's apartment address written on it and a letter addressed to "Dearest Phyllis." Phyllis Nelson's next scheduled court appearance is a pretrial conference set for Feb. 28 in Linn County District Court.http://proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/login?url=http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=0ec84276c5f819f4969966a6294da161&_docnum=3&wchp=dGLSzV-lSlzV&_md5=4d3158419e368a2308e87cba75ab83fd

UI ALL-AMERICAN SWIMMER FEATURED (Los Angeles Times, Jan. 23)Bound and determined to return to sunny Southern California where he was born and raised for the first 11 years of his life, Les Cutler made good on a self-proclaimed promise after an All-American swimming career at the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA. "I always had fond memories of California and always said when I graduate from Iowa I was going to come out here -- in whatever profession I had," said Cutler, a longtime teacher and coach who said he is in his "late 50s," is officially retired, but you'd never know it if you followed him around Newport-Mesa School District campuses. "I retired last year from teaching, but the district asked me to come back to continue the honors program (which he started six years ago at Costa Mesa High)." At Iowa, Cutler was a four-time NCAA All-American swimmer, placing second his senior year at the 1964 NCAA Championships in the 200-meter backstroke (2:02.4).http://www.latimes.com/tcn/pilot/sports/la-dp0027373jan23.story

O'HARA: FEW RESOURCES FOR PPD SUFFERERS (Washington Post, Jan. 22) story about postpartum depression says mild cases generally respond well to psychotherapy, and more severe cases can be treated with many standard antidepressants such as Prozac; even nursing mothers, following findings that such medications do not substantially affect breast milk, are routinely prescribed such treatments (though the long-term effects on the child's health are not yet established). Despite these treatment options, the biggest question troubling MICHAEL O'HARA, professor of psychology at the University of Iowa and an eminent PPD expert, remains: Once you've identified affected women, what do you do with them? "In the U.S., we don't have a universal system of somebody being responsible" to attend to a woman after childbirth, he says. But "once you start identifying people, you have a responsibility to start providing services for them. I don't believe those services are really in place." And even if they were, O'Hara says, "there are all sorts of barriers to getting treatment," he says, from insurance issues to clinicians' inexperience in connecting patients with the appropriate specialists. Fewer than 50 percent of all depressed individuals actually get treatment, says O'Hara. Women on the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder may be most at risk and least likely to have easy access to the kind of care that could help them, he says.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6929-2002Jan19.html

NOPOULOS STUDIES CLEFT LIPS, PALATES (Reuters Health, Jan. 22)People born with mild forms of cleft lip or cleft palate, or both, appear to have brain abnormalities that may be the direct cause of language disabilities and other problems, according to new research. "These results suggest that there should be an increased awareness of the possibility of developmental language and cognitive deficits in these patients,'' lead researcher Dr. PEG NOPOULOS, from the University of Iowa in Iowa City, told Reuters Health. Cleft lip and/or palate is a common type of birth defect, in which two sides of the lip and/or the roof of the mouth--the palate--do not join properly before birth. Sometimes severe problems with learning and reasoning skills accompany this birth defect. But in about 1 in 1,000 live births, a milder form called nonsyndromic clefts of the lip and/or palate (NSCLP) occurs. In this disorder, clefts develop, but brain function remains generally intact. The article ran on YAHOO! NEWS.http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20020122/hl/cleft_1.html

HOVENKAMP: KMART CLOSINGS COULD HURT SHOPPERS (Reuters, Jan. 22)Shareholders and creditors of Kmart Corp. aren't likely to be the only casualties of the No. 2 U.S. discount retailer's bankruptcy filing on Tuesday. Kmart's much larger rival, Wal-Mart Stores is now poised to swallow an even larger share of the American shopping dollar, which could leave some suppliers of everything from groceries to apparel worse off. That in turn could leave consumers with fewer choices, and might allow Wal-Mart -- the world's largest retailer with nearly $200 billion in revenue a year -- to eventually charge higher prices in some parts of the country, experts said. Some antitrust experts said they did not believe consumers and suppliers would suffer heavily from closures of Kmart stores, due to a fiercely competitive retail industry and the likelihood that rivals would take advantage of any across-the-board move by a major retailer to jack up prices. However, the outcome could be different in towns where Wal-Mart is Kmart's sole competitor, some experts said. "Where it may facilitate price increases is where the stores are in close proximity and there is no one else," said HERBERT HOVENKAMP, a professor of law at the University of Iowa and an antitrust expert. The article ran on the YAHOO! FINANCE web site.http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/020122/n22161494_1.html

UI: DIABETES DOES NOT HARM SCHOOL PERFORMANCE (Reuters Health, Jan. 21)Despite some concerns over the effect type 1 diabetes might have on the brain, the condition does not appear to hinder children's school performance, new research shows. In the new study, UI researchers found that children with type 1 diabetes performed as well as--and sometimes better than--their siblings and classmates on standardized academic tests. Their grades in math and reading were also comparable. Diabetic children did have more absences and behavioral problems than their siblings did, but these differences seemed to have minimal effects academically, according to UI Associate Professor of Nursing ANN MARIE MCCARTHY and her colleagues in the January issue of Pediatrics.
The article appeared in Yahoo News at http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20020121/hl/diabetes_school_1.html

SCHOLARSHIP ESTABLISHED IN MOTHER'S NAME (Los Angeles Times, Jan. 21)
Ed Fonda, a Cal Poly Pomona professor, paid tribute to his mother, Mary McNellis Fonda, by establishing a scholarship in her name with $10,000 in seed money. Next school year, students in the university's animal and veterinary sciences department will be able to apply for it. Mary McNellis Fonda grew up on a farm in Iowa. Her family did not have a lot of money for college. She wanted to go to the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA to study nursing so she worked her way through school, Ed Fonda said. She went on to obtain two more master's degrees over the years so she could move up in the health industry. http://www.latimes.com/tcn/ontario/opinion/la-iv0019913jan21.story

UI STUDY: DRUG CAN TREAT ENLARGED HEART (Honolulu Advertiser, Jan. 20)
A drug used to treat high blood pressure appears to be able to reverse enlargement of the heart and reduce the risk of complications and death from the disorder. In a 4.5 year study of 8,281 patients, the drug ramipril also known as Altace was able to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death by 25 percent compared with patients not taking the drug, said Dr. JAMES MATTHEW of the University of Iowa College of Medicine.
A version of this article also appeared in the DETROIT FREE PRESS.

GRAY COMMENTS ON 'CITIZEN SCIENTISTS' (Miami Herald, Jan. 20)
A story about researchers who work alone -- often in their own homes -- says they are drawing the attention of the federal government. Some don't have college degrees; others have Ph.D.s and experience directing university laboratories. Some perform their experiments in basements or spare bedrooms using secondhand equipment; others have their own research institutes. Most of these citizen scientists have dreams of miracle cures and billion-dollar patents. Others pursue wild conspiracy theories. A few have even dabbled in chemical or biological weapons. No one knows how many of these closet biologists exist. But like many once invisible subcultures, they now share theories, results and concerns on the Internet. A few have been accused of using the Web to raise money outside the traditional scientific peer review process. "Some of these people have sort of a cottage industry," said GREGORY GRAY, an epidemiologist at the University of Iowa.http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/national/digdocs/000630.htm

WARREN FINDS THUMB-SUCKING RISKS (Chicago Tribune, Jan. 20)There is a strong relationship between sucking on thumbs and pacifiers and bite problems in small children, a University of Iowa study finds. The study focused on 372 Iowa youngsters up to age 5. The children were divided into different groups according to how long they continued sucking on thumbs, fingers or pacifiers. Fewer than 6 percent of the children who had stopped sucking at age 1 had bite problems, while the rate was greater than 20 percent among the children who continued the habit after age 4. The study was led by Dr. JOHN WARREN of the University of Iowa and published in the Journal of the American Dental Association.http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/health/chi-0201200452jan20.story

JANIS COMMENTS ON BIOTECH PATENTS (Seattle Times, Jan. 20)The paper ran a Q&A article as a follow-up to an investigative series on the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center titled "Uninformed Consent: What patients at 'The Hutch' weren't told about the experiments in which they died." One question states: "The Hutch says the researchers publicly disclosed their work with monoclonal antibodies and T-cell depletion in a medical journal in 1981, and in doing so foreclosed any possibility of commercializing the fruits of their research. Is that true?" The paper's response is: "No. Expert patent lawyers say the 1981 article did not preclude the possibility of patenting and profiting from the new method if it had succeeded. ... MARK JANIS, biotech patent expert at the University of Iowa College of Law, said a prior publication that speculates about using materials to achieve a result doesn't bar a later patent claim unless it discloses the specific steps of the method or contains sufficient teachings to suggest the method to a person of ordinary skill in biotech. 'If a publication discloses a rocket ship and speculates that the rocket ship might be used to take people to Saturn, but doesn't teach how that would be done, that publication doesn't necessarily preclude a later inventor from patenting a specific method for using the rocket to get to Saturn,' he said."http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=hutch200&date=20020120&query=%22University+of+Iowa%22

UI PRESS BOOK ON RECORDED JAZZ CITED (New York Times, Jan. 20)Tom Piazza, author of "The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz" -- which the paper reports was published by UNIVERSITY OF IOWA PRESS -- writes about jazz's "Latin tinge." He writes: It is a truism that the African elements in jazz's rhythmic language are often delivered with a Hispanic accent. In New Orleans, regarded by many as the northernmost outpost of the Caribbean, as well as in Cuba, slaves and former slaves from West Africa maintained their percussion traditions, mixing ritual drumming with other elements from Spanish music.http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/20/arts/music/20PIAZ.html

GRAY COMMENTS ON 'CITIZEN SCIENTISTS' (San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 19)A story about researchers who work alone -- often in their own homes -- says they are drawing the attention of the federal government. Some don't have college degrees; others have Ph.D.s and experience directing university laboratories. Some perform their experiments in basements or spare bedrooms using secondhand equipment; others have their own research institutes. Most of these citizen scientists have dreams of miracle cures and billion-dollar patents. Others pursue wild conspiracy theories. A few have even dabbled in chemical or biological weapons. No one knows how many of these closet biologists exist. But like many once invisible subcultures, they now share theories, results and concerns on the Internet. A few have been accused of using the Web to raise money outside the traditional scientific peer review process. "Some of these people have sort of a cottage industry," said GREGORY GRAY, an epidemiologist at the University of Iowa.http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/01/19/national1215EST0490.DTL
This article also appeared in the Jan. 20 PRESS-ENTERPRISE of Riverside, Calif.

UI CITED IN ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS STUDY (Omaha World Herald, Jan. 19)In a report to the University of Nebraska Board of Regents, University of Nebraska campuses generally spend less on administration than their peer schools. The comparison was based on administrative spending per student, compared to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's peer schools which included include Iowa State, the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA and Purdue University.http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=36&u_sid=289850

UI SEVERS RELATIONSHIP WITH CONTRACTOR (Omaha World Herald, Jan. 19)The UNIVERSITY OF IOWA will no longer accept bids from the contractor whose workers likely used methods that caused the fire that destroyed the Old Capitol dome. That decision was only one of several results of an internal investigation into the fire and water damage that will cost about $5 million to repair, DOUG TRUE, vice president for research and university services at Iowa, told the Board of Regents, State of Iowa on Wednesday. State and local fire investigators ruled the November fire accidental. True said Wednesday that Enviro Safe Air Inc. of North Sioux City, S.D., was notified in December that the school will not accept any more bids from the company. University General Counsel MARK SCHANTZ said after the regents' meeting that he doubted the UI project manager, BILL BULGER, would be fired.http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=36&u_sid=290005

UI SEMINAR INFLUENCED PLAYWRIGHT (Los Angeles Times, Jan. 19)
Playwright Joe Hortua is getting his first professional production at South Coast Repertory's (Costa Mesa, Calif.) world premiere of "Making It," which opens Jan. 25. The play grew out of Chicago native's four-year tenure watching, listening and learning at Lumi, an Italian eatery on Manhattan's Upper East Side. In his senior year at the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, Hortua first gave a thought to writing plays. To fill out his credits, he enrolled in a seminar taught by playwright Naomi Wallace -- then an unknown graduate student, later the recipient of a 1999 MacArthur Foundation grant for her politicized plays. Something clicked in Hortua, and Wallace saw it. She gave him special attention and remained a mentor after he graduated. Hortua can remember having read just one play --"A Raisin in the Sun"-- before taking Wallace's class. The only one he had seen that made any impression was "Hair," and that was because of the nude scene. Now he got up early on Saturday mornings, encamped himself in a deserted college library and devoured the works of David Mamet, Sam Shepard, Caryl Churchill and lesser-known European writers recommended by Wallace.http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/printedition/calendar/la-000004724jan19.story

UI OFFICERS TO GET STUN GUNS (USA Today, Jan. 18)Campus police at Iowa's three public universities will soon be armed with stun guns. The Board of Regents, State of Iowa, has approved the use of the weapons at the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa. Until now, campus police had night sticks, bulletproof vests and pepper spray. In high-risk situations, the officers would call local city police for help. Public safety officials at the schools lobbied for the change to help protect their officers.

TRUE COMMENTS ON INSURANCE (Omaha World Herald, Jan. 18)Iowa's three state universities gained $103 million when Principal Financial Group became a publicly held company. "It's wonderful," said David Fisher, who heads the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, banking committee. He said the money will be added to institutional endowments. Interest generated from the money will help the universities cover the costs of health insurance, life insurance and long-term disability for employees. The University of Iowa will have $54 million invested on its behalf, Iowa State will have $39 million and Northern Iowa will have $10 million, said DOUG TRUE, vice president for finance and university services at Iowa. Iowa, for example, purchased life and long-term disability insurance policies from Principal on behalf of employees, True said. http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=36&u_sid=289198

UI FOUNDATION LOSSES CITED (Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 18)
Endowment managers, unsettled by the brutal investment markets of the past 18 months, have turned to hedge funds, entrusting billions of dollars in endowment wealth to fund managers who have a reputation for betting big, sometimes delivering huge returns, and occasionally losing it all. One of the most infamous blow-ups occurred in 1998, when Long Term Capital Management, which had been a spectacularly successful hedge fund, lost billions of dollars on bad investments. Because of its close ties to large financial institutions, the fund's precarious position threatened the stability of world financial markets. Only a multibillion-dollar bailout of the fund, orchestrated by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, averted its collapse. Soon after the demise of Long Term Capital Management, the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA FOUNDATION's endowment lost $4.6-million when hedge funds managed by Everest Capital lost $1.3-billion.http://chronicle.com/weekly/v48/i19/19a02801.htm

ALBRECHT COMMENTS ON GRAMM, ENRON (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Jan. 18)
An article about Sen. Phil Gramm and his wife Wendy Gramm's ties to the Enron scandal notes that Wendy Gramm came under criticism in 1993 after urging the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which she chaired, to remove the trading of certain energy futures and swap contracts from government scrutiny, changes that benefited Enron. Seven days later she resigned from the commission, knowing that her days were numbered after Bill Clinton was sworn in as president. Five weeks later she joined Enrons board. WILLIAM ALBRECHT, a University of Iowa professor who was the acting commission chairman after Gramm resigned and who voted in favor of removing energy futures from government scrutiny, disputes the notion that Wendy Gramm tried to push the measure through quickly to benefit Enron. "This is what Congress wanted, and that's what we did," Albrecht said. He also said he doesn't consider Wendy Gramm's quick move to the Enron board significant, because such panels often look for high-profile people with relevant expertise. "If I'm at all critical of Wendy, I think just for appearance sake, she probably should have waited longer," Albrecht said.

ENGELHARDT LEADS CYSTIC FIBROSIS STUDY (News & Observer, Jan. 18)
Scientists using a Raleigh biotechnology company's patented approach have repaired the genetic defect that causes cystic fibrosis, according to research published in Nature Biotechnology. The laboratory results demonstrate that Intronn's gene therapy technology holds promise for developing a new treatment for cystic fibrosis, although such a treatment remains years away and would have to overcome significant hurdles. The research conducted at Intronn, Duke University and the University of Iowa, and led by principal investigator JOHN ENGELHARDT of Iowa, is featured as the cover story in the January edition of Nature Biotechnology.

WHEATON COMMENTS ON UI-VA LINK (Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 18)
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has enjoyed a fruitful partnership with academe for decades. Most of the country's 125 medical schools are affiliated with veterans' hospitals, and hundreds of full-time faculty members have dual appointments at VA medical centers. Now, the cozy relationship is being strained by the department's demand that it share equally in the profits from any inventions developed by academic scientists who also work in the agency's hospitals -- even if the discovery was made in the researchers' own university labs. In recent months, 29 institutions, including the University of California system and the Universities of Iowa and Wisconsin at Madison, have signed agreements giving the veterans' agency partial ownership of such inventions. Such deals make sense for many institutions, says W. BRUCE WHEATON, executive director of the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA RESEARCH FOUNDATION, which handles the institution's patent agreements and recently struck a deal with the VA. Lab space is a highly sought commodity on most university campuses, he says, and the VA's facilities are needed by many researchers. "We did not want to disrupt the very valued collaboration between the university and the VA," Wheaton says.http://chronicle.com/weekly/v48/i19/19a02601.htm

UI PROFESSOR EARNS THIRD FULBRIGHT (Omaha World Herald, Jan. 17)A professor emeritus of the University of Iowa's College of Education has received a Fulbright Senior Specialists grant to work at Tribhuvan University in Nepal -- his third Fulbright in nine years. H. BRADLEY SAGEN will help Tribhuvan officials develop educational materials for a master's of education degree in curriculum and evaluation.http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=36&u_sid=288827

UI OFFICERS TO GET STUN GUNS (San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 17)Campus police at Iowa's three public universities will soon be armed with stun guns. The Board of Regents, State of Iowa, has approved the use of the weapons at the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa. Until now, campus police had night sticks, bulletproof vests and pepper spray. In high-risk situations, the officers would call local city police for help. Public safety officials at the schools lobbied for the change to help protect their officers.http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/01/17/national0130EST0424.DTL

TRUE COMMENTS ON INSURANCE (Associated Press, Jan. 17)Iowa's three state universities gained $103 million when Principal Financial Group became a publicly held company. "It's wonderful," said David Fisher, who heads the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, banking committee. He said the money will be added to institutional endowments. Interest generated from the money will help the universities cover the costs of health insurance, life insurance and long-term disability for employees. The University of Iowa will have $54 million invested on its behalf, Iowa State will have $39 million and Northern Iowa will have $10 million, said DOUG TRUE, vice president for finance and university services at Iowa. Iowa, for example, purchased life and long-term disability insurance policies from Principal on behalf of employees, True said. http://proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/login?url=http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=0427a3916938a97c4f59ef8a07c8fc7e&_docnum=1&wchp=dGLSzS-lSlzV&_md5=387ce93d24a53741c6b693189925332d

GREEN: TASERS CAN BE DANGEROUS (Associated Press, Jan. 17)Police at Iowa's three public universities will soon carry stun guns. The Board of Regents, State of Iowa, Wednesday approved the use of Taser guns on the campuses at the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa. The guns cost about $500 each, officials said. Some board members expressed concern about the risk of injury to those hit by the guns and the weapons similar appearance to handguns. The Tasers use dart-like probes and victims who are shot with the probes are incapacitated by an electrical shock. CHUCK GREEN, director of the University of Iowa's campus police department, said some people using the drug PCP have died after being shocked by a Taser. He said it was unclear whether the deaths resulted from injuries received in the fall or from the combined effect of PCP with electrical shock.http://proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/login?url=http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=0427a3916938a97c4f59ef8a07c8fc7e&_docnum=2&wchp=dGLSzS-lSlzV&_md5=3ad312072588affc249e23f8a11341cb

UI SEVERS RELATIONSHIP WITH CONTRACTOR (Associated Press, Jan. 17)The UNIVERSITY OF IOWA will no longer accept bids from the contractor whose workers likely used methods that caused the fire that destroyed the Old Capitol dome. That decision was only one of several results of an internal investigation into the fire and water damage that will cost about $5 million to repair, DOUG TRUE, vice president for research and university services at Iowa, told the Board of Regents, State of Iowa on Wednesday. State and local fire investigators ruled the November fire accidental. True said Wednesday that Enviro Safe Air Inc. of North Sioux City, S.D., was notified in December that the school will not accept any more bids from the company. University General Counsel MARK SCHANTZ said after the regents' meeting that he doubted the UI project manager, BILLBULGER, would be fired. "I don't anticipate there will be any terminations," he said.http://proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/login?url=http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=0427a3916938a97c4f59ef8a07c8fc7e&_docnum=3&wchp=dGLSzS-lSlzV&_md5=e67dc5ae64a2d682d0cd1022652ced8e

BROKAW CREATES UI SCHOLARSHIP (Minneapolis Star Tribune, Jan. 17)NBC "Nightly News" anchor Tom Brokaw has established a scholarship for American Indian students at the University of Iowa. He gave $50,000 to establish the Tom Brokaw Scholarship Fund for American Indian Students, university officials announced Monday. The first recipient is expected to be named in the spring and will receive a scholarship for the 2002-03 school year. "From my years spent in South Dakota and elsewhere, and over the course of my career as a journalist, I have seen the kinds of opportunities that quality higher education can provide for American Indian students,'' Brokaw said in a statement. Brokaw, a native of Webster, S.D., attended the University of Iowa from 1958-59. University President MARY SUE COLEMAN said the school appreciates his generosity.http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/1104319.htmlA version of the Associated Press story also ran Jan. 16 on the website of the NEW YORK TIMES.http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-Tom-Brokaw-Scholarship.htmlA version of the Associated Press story also ran Jan. 16 on the website of the WASHINGTON POST.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52382-2002Jan16.htmlA version of the Associated Press story also ran Jan. 16 on YAHOO! NEWS.http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020116/en/tom_brokaw_scholarship_2.html

APPLICATIONS TO UI UP THIS YEAR (USA Today, Jan. 16)Applications are up at the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA and all signs point to a record freshman class this fall. Applications from Iowa residents are up about 6 percent compared to last year; out-of-state applications have increased 18.5 percent.

MILLS: LAW MAY REQUIRE BACKGROUND CHECKS (Associated Press, Jan. 16)
The University of Iowa may be required to conduct background checks on employees who work with biological agents that could potentially be used as weapons, MARC MILLS of the university's General Counsel's Office said. A law signed by President Bush in October says that certain people must be restricted from having access to agents such as ricin and the Ebola virus. The background checks would be one step that could be implemented to make sure that university employees who work with, or near, these materials comply with the USA Patriot Act.

HINES COMMENTS ON BAR EXAM (The National Jurist, Jan. 15)
An article highlights law schools with recent improvement in the percentage of graduates who pass the bar exam, including the University of Iowa which saw its pass rate increase from 78 percent to 84 percent. Its good news, but to be very candid, we do not emphasize preparation for the bar in our school, and we are not doing anything overt to improve passage rates, said N. WILLIAM HINES, Dean of the UI College of Law.

BROKAW CREATES UI SCHOLARSHIP (CNN, Jan. 15)NBC "Nightly News" anchor Tom Brokaw has established a scholarship for American Indian students at the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA. He gave $50,000 to establish the Tom Brokaw Scholarship Fund for American Indian Students, university officials announced Monday. (The news was reported in the text "crawl" which runs on the bottom of CNN's screen.)

GLASS: FAMILY-FRIENDLY POLICIES POSE RISKS (Yahoo! Finance, Jan. 15)It was only a few years ago that employers rolled out family-friendly polices to woo and retain scarce workers. But despite all the hoopla, employees are finding that taking companies up on their offers, particularly now that the economy has tightened, can come with a price: Management may question their commitment. According to University of Iowa research, professional women who make use of flex or part-time schedules and telecommuting receive lower raises than their peers, despite little difference in productivity. "Managers prefer workers who are in front of their face all the time and don't ask for any kind of accommodation," explains Iowa sociology professor JENNIFER GLASS.http://biz.yahoo.com/smart/020115/working-february02worktakicharofyourcare.html

BROKAW CREATES UI SCHOLARSHIP (San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 15)The "People in the News" column notes that NBC "Nightly News" anchor Tom Brokaw has established a scholarship for American Indian students at the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA. He gave $50,000 to establish the Tom Brokaw Scholarship Fund for American Indian Students, university officials announced Monday. The first recipient is expected to be named in the spring and will receive a scholarship for the 2002-03 school year. "From my years spent in South Dakota and elsewhere, and over the course of my career as a journalist, I have seen the kinds of opportunities that quality higher education can provide for American Indian students," Brokaw said in a statement.http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/01/15/national1306EST0607.DTL
This story also appeared in the Jan. 17 DENVER POST, the Jan. 17 PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, and the Jan. 18 ARIZONA REPUBLIC.

ROBINSON, JORGE COMMENT ON STUDY (USA TODAY, Jan. 15)Concussions and other head injuries in early adulthood may significantly raise the risk of depression decades later, according to a study of World War II veterans that researchers say has ramifications for athletes. Previous research has shown that head trauma patients -- including athletes -- may be prone to depression shortly after suffering their injuries. But the new findings suggest that the risk persists even 50 years later. The study -- conducted by Drs. Tracey Holsinger and Brenda Plassman of Duke University and colleagues and reported in January's Archives of General Psychiatry -- involved 1,718 veterans hospitalized for various ailments during the war and questioned 50 years later. About 11 percent of those who had head injuries said they currently had major depression, compared with 8.5 percent of those hospitalized during the war for other reasons. "The lifelong nature of these disorders argues strongly for their identification and treatment to improve quality of life and perhaps long-term survival," doctors ROBERT G. ROBINSON and RICARDO JORGE of the University of Iowa psychiatry department wrote in an accompanying editorial.

UI STUDY LINKS NITRATES, CANCER (Scuttlebutt Magazine, Jan. 15)
A study conducted by the UNIVERSITY OFIOWA's Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination has linked elevated levels of nitrates in Iowa drinking water to increased rates of bladder cancer in women.

ROBINSON, JORGE COMMENT ON STUDY (Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 15)Concussions and other head injuries in early adulthood may significantly raise the risk of depression decades later, according to a study of World War II veterans that researchers say has ramifications for athletes. Previous research has shown that head trauma patients -- including athletes -- may be prone to depression shortly after suffering their injuries. But the new findings suggest that the risk persists even 50 years later. The study -- conducted by Drs. Tracey Holsinger and Brenda Plassman of Duke University and colleagues and reported in January's Archives of General Psychiatry -- involved 1,718 veterans hospitalized for various ailments during the war and questioned 50 years later. About 11 percent of those who had head injuries said they currently had major depression, compared with 8.5 percent of those hospitalized during the war for other reasons. "The lifelong nature of these disorders argues strongly for their identification and treatment to improve quality of life and perhaps long-term survival," doctors ROBERT G. ROBINSON and RICARDO JORGE of the University of Iowa psychiatry department wrote in an accompanying editorial. A version of the article also ran Jan. 15 in the PRESS-TELEGRAM of Long Beach, Calif.

ROBINSON, JORGE PEN EDITORIAL ON STUDY (Yahoo! News, Jan. 15)People who suffer a traumatic head injury may be at increased risk of developing bouts of depression over their life span, a team of researchers reports. "The risk of depression does not end a year or two after head injury,'' senior author Dr. Brenda L. Plassman told Reuters Health. "Clinicians need to be aware and watch for symptoms of depression,'' said Plassman, who is head of the program in epidemiology of dementia at Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina. Plassman and colleagues studied World War II veterans who had been hospitalized either for head injury, pneumonia or wounds during the war. The researchers compared 520 veterans with head injuries to nearly 1,200 veterans hospitalized for other reasons. Both groups were evaluated for their lifetime risk of depression 50 years after hospitalization. In an accompanying editorial, Drs. ROBERT G. ROBINSON and RICARDO JORGE of the University of Iowa College of Medicine's psychiatry department suggest that a randomized treatment trial of depression in patients with acute traumatic brain injury (TBI) should be conducted. "The growing evidence that depressive disorder plays an important role in the long-term course of TBI emphasizes the need for such a trial,'' they noted.http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20020115/hl/depression_4.html

WOMAN TO HEAD UI RADIOLOGY DEPARTMENT (Associated Press, Jan. 15)The University of Iowa College of Medicine has named Laurie Lee Fajardo, a leader in breast imaging from Johns Hopkins, as new head of radiology. Fajardo will become the only female head of a general radiology department at a U.S. academic medical center when she starts the job this summer. Her appointment brings the number of women who head departments within the UI health care system to five. Fajardo said the medical school's tradition of female leadership was one reason she took the job. "It's very unique and pertains to the vision of the dean and the university in general," said Fajardo, 46, a professor of radiology and vice chair of clinical research in radiology at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, and professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Md. CAROL SCOTT-CONNER, head of the surgery department at Iowa, called the number of women in leadership roles extraordinary. "It all adds up to a pretty impressive record," Scott-Conner said. Nationally, women hold about 7.5 percent of all department head positions at medical schools. There are at least 23 schools with no women department heads.

BOWLSBY: FOOTBALL TICKETS MAY COST MORE (Associated Press, Jan. 15)University of Iowa officials say they likely will raise football ticket prices next season. "It's my expectation that we will," said BOB BOWLSBY, Iowa athletics director. "How much we will, what exactly the price will be, remains to be determined." Bowlsby blamed increases in tuition -- and subsequent increases in the cost of scholarships -- as well as budget cuts. A single-game ticket at Iowa cost $28 last fall. At season-ticket prices, it was $24.

BOYD PRAISES HUBBARD'S WORK (Chicago Tribune, Jan. 14)PHILIP G. HUBBARD, a former University of Iowa vice president and the university's first black professor, has died. He was 80. Hubbard, who died Thursday at University Hospitals in Iowa City, was known as a human-rights advocate throughout his years as an engineering professor after he was hired at the university in 1954. He helped draft the university's first human-rights policy in 1963 and promoted a fair-housing ordinance that forced landlords to stop restricting blacks from living in certain areas. Hubbard was "the living embodiment of always moving forward in the right direction and bringing people with him in his quiet manner," said WILLARD BOYD, the university's president from 1969 to 1981.http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/nation/chi-0201140191jan14.story

SNETSELAAR: WALKING GOOD EXERCISE (Yahoo! News, Jan. 14)
A story about the challenge of losing weight after the holidays says both dieting and exercise are necessary. Experts say the best way to start is by walking, a simple activity everyone can do that requires no special equipment. The Surgeon General recommends that every American get 150 minutes of moderate exercise -- such as walking -- each week. "We're not talking about going out and being a marathon runner and killing yourself," says LINDA G. SNETSELAAR, head of preventive nutrition education at the University of Iowa's College of Public Health. "We're talking about going out and walking 30 minutes." "If you can walk for 150 minutes a week -- that's 30 minutes a day, five days a week -- you can make a marked difference in your health," she says. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/hsn/20020113/hl/diet_alone_won_t_drop_those_holiday_pounds_1.html

MATTHEW: DRUG MAY HELP ENLARGED HEART (Chicago Tribune, Jan. 13)A drug used to treat high blood pressure appears to be able to reverse enlargement of the heart and reduce the risk of complications and death from this disorder. In a 4 1/2-year study of 8,281 patients, the drug ramipril (Altace) was able to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death by 25 percent compared with patients not taking the drug, said Dr. JAMES MATHEW of the University of Iowa College of Medicine. Heart attacks were reduced by 20 percent and strokes by 32 percent. Although it is not known how ramipril works to reverse or prevent enlarged hearts, its mechanism of action is separate from its ability to lower blood pressure, Mathew reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/health/chi-0201130368jan13.story
Versions of this article also appeared in the Jan. 21 Charlotte Observer and in the Lexington Herald-Leader.

LOPES: BIGGER CLASSES IMPACTS QUALITY (Associated Press, Jan. 11)
Administrators at the three state universities were right when they predicted state budget cuts would lead to bigger classes, an annual report from the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, shows. "No one would argue that it doesn't impact quality," said LOLA LOPES, Iowa vice provost for undergraduate education. With larger classes, professors might have to cut back on the number of assignments, she said, thus diminishing the educational experience. But, she acknowledged, "It's not going from all to none." The report shows that, with only one exception, the average undergraduate class size at the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa exceeded the targets. In the 2000-01 school year, lower division courses at Iowa, those typically taken by freshmen and sophomores, had an average class size of 40.3 students. The target was 37. The average class has two more students than the previous year, according to the report.

SILLIMAN PENS 'JEWISH PORTRAITS' (Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 11)
Growing up in India, JAEL SILLIMAN avoided identifying with her minority culture. "I so much wanted to identify with mainstream India," says the assistant professor of women's studies at the University of Iowa. It's a familiar story. Far less familiar, however, is the heritage from which Ms. Silliman turned away. In "Jewish Portraits, Indian Frames: Women's Narratives from a Diaspora of Hope" (Brandeis University Press, December), she combines ethnography, memoir, and social-cultural history to relate the lives of women from generations of her family -- including herself -- and sketch the now-fading history of the Baghdadi Jews of Calcutta.http://chronicle.com/weekly/v48/i18/18a01601.htm

GREEN COMMENTS ON STUN GUN REQUEST (Associated Press, Jan. 10)
The Board of Regents will decide next week if police officers at the three public universities should carry stun guns. CHUCKGREEN, head of the University of Iowa Department of Public Safety, said that if the regents approve the move, there was no specific time line for when officers would begin carrying the guns. "We certainly don't feel pressure at this point in time," he said. Officers will receive training in the use of the guns prior to their being issued, according to the report that went to the regents Wednesday. The officers also will be required to take refresher training every six months. The presidents of the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa have recommended arming the officers with the guns, which shoot two probes up to 21 feet. The probes emit an electrical pulse that temporarily disables the person it strikes. In addition to deciding on whether to arm the officers, the regents also will vote on changing the name of the public safety departments at Iowa and ISU to Police Division, and that certified officers be called police officers rather than public safety officers.

PRINCE UNSURE WHY MORE IOWA GRADS LEAVING (Associated Press, Jan. 10)
A majority of University of Iowa graduates surveyed said they left Iowa to find jobs while more Northern Iowa and Iowa State grads stayed home. Almost 60 percent of Iowa graduates said they found jobs out of state after graduation, according to a report released Wednesday. Of the 4,172 people who graduated from Iowa during the 1999-2000 school year, 1,268 responded to the survey about post-graduation plans. Of the 1,062 who said they had jobs, 445, or 41.9 percent, said they had jobs in Iowa. The remainder found work elsewhere. However, 69.6 percent of the graduates surveyed at UNI said they found jobs in Iowa and 53.1 percent of ISU graduates accepted work in the state. MICHAEL PRINCE, associate director of the Iowa's career center, is not sure why a greater percentage of Iowa grads leave than at the other universities. He noted that 40 percent of incoming students come from out-of-state, so many are probably heading home after graduation. The center is continuing to gather additional data to try to get a handle on the situation, he said. Iowa simply does not offer the selection of jobs that is available in major metropolitan areas, said MARKTHOMPSON, who received his bachelor's degree and MBA from Iowa. "The supply is next to nothing," particularly in highly specialized financial fields, he said.

UI MEDICAL RESEARCH STUDENT WINS PRAISE (Associated Press, Jan. 10)
MARC DOOBAY, talking over a cold soda on a cold day, was fast and fluent with his long scientific words. He was saying something about angiotensin-II-induced relaxation of mesenteric microvessels being impaired in diabetic rats. In other words, this sophomore at the University of Iowa who grew up just east of Ames and went to Nevada High School, is well on his way to understanding the life and work of a medical research scientist. Doobay, in fact, recently won honors for making the best oral presentation in the physiological sciences before the 2001 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students in Orlando. His showing wasn't much of a surprise to the researchers who've worked with him. "He's good, hard-working, dedicated and very well focused," said Dr. HON-CHI LEE, who recently left the University of Iowa to take a post as a consultant and professor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Lee is even hoping to bring Doobay up to Rochester in the summer so he can continue working in the research lab.

ENGELHARDT COMMENTS ON GENE STUDIES (BioWorld Today, Jan. 9)
A story about the joint efforts of the University of Iowa and Intronn to correct a cystic fibrosis mutant gene in a customized mouse mimic quotes cell biologist and gene therapist JOHN ENGELHARDT at the University of Iowa. "Traditional gene therapy approaches correcting genetic disease by over-expressing an unmutated version of the defective gene. That over-expression may or may not correct the genetic defect, depending on where, what cell types, and at what level that gene product has to be expressed," said Engelhardt, a senior author of an article in the January 2002 issue of Nature Biotechnology.

SUPREME COURT LIMITS ADA IN WILLIAMS CASE (ADAWatch.org, Jan. 9)PETER BLANCK, law professor at the University of Iowa and commissioner on the American Bar Association's Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law, is quoted in a story about the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last Tuesday that limited the scope of the Americans with Disabilities Act by saying an impairment must affect other aspects of a person's life and not just his or her job in the workplace. Blanck said the court's ruling in Toyota v. Williams wasn't as damaging as some other authorities might believe although it does represent "a high-water mark of the Supreme Court's articulation of the Americans with Disabilities Act." He said the high court's ruling was narrow in scope and should not be viewed as a death knell for the ADA. http://www.accessiblesociety.org/topics/ada/williams2.htm

BLANCK: SOME BUSINESSES STILL OPPOSE ADA (Chicago Tribune, Jan. 9)
A story about the Americans with Disabilities Act says that the smart people in business have moved ahead, accepted the spirit of the ADA, and happily discovered how wrong their lobbying groups were about the untold costs of the law. Turns out it is 40 times less expensive to make "reasonable accommodations" than to shoulder the cost of terminating an employee, according to a University of Iowa study. PETER BLANCK, an Iowa law professor who has done workplace studies on ADA's impact, says some businesses can't resist holding out against the law. "It's a general maxim that the federal government is seen as intrusive and disruptive to an employer's judgment," he says. "Some resist [embracing the ADA] even if it doesn't make a bit of difference to their cost."http://chicagotribune.com/business/printedition/chi-0201090233jan09.story

NELSON DEFENSE GETS DETAILS ON CHARGES (Associated Press, Jan. 9)
Prosecutors have answered a request from Phyllis Nelson's attorney for more information about the first-degree murder charge filed against her in her husband's stabbing death last month. Nelson, 54, is scheduled for trial March 11 in the stabbing death of her husband, Dr. RICHARD NELSON, who was executive dean at the University of Iowa College of Medicine. Assistant Linn County Attorney Harold Denton said Tuesday that the forcible felonies were willful injury and assault causing serious injury. "With the addition of specified felonies, the state does not believe that any further bill of particulars are required in the trial information," Denton said in his response to a request from defense attorney William Kutmus. Phyllis Nelson is accused of driving from her home in Iowa City to her husband's apartment in Cedar Rapids and stabbing him once in the heart about 5:30 a.m. on Dec. 12. He died at the hospital four hours later.

UI SEARCHES FOR HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATORS (Associated Press, Jan. 9)
The University of Iowa has formed two search committees to fill administrative vacancies. A committee of 19 administrators, faculty and staff members will conduct a national search for a new director and chief executive for University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. The previous director and chief executive, R. EDWARD HOWELL, announced last October that he had agreed to become vice president and chief executive of the University of Virginia Medical Center. Howell officially relinquished his duties on Dec. 19, but he continues to serve in a consultative role. ANN MADDEN RICE, the chief financial officer of University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, is also currently serving as interim director and CEO. A committee of 22 administrators, faculty, students and staff members will search for a new dean for the College of Medicine. ROBERT P. KELCH will step down from the position when his successor is named.

MCCARTHY STUDIES DRUGS IN SCHOOLS (Associated Press, Jan. 9)
School employees, some licensed health care professionals, some not, are being called on more often to dispense powerful drugs and monitor the health of their students. A shortage of school nurses, coupled with two-income families and children without health insurance has made schools often the first-line of medical care for South Carolina's children. Drugs to control psychological problems, such as attention deficient disorder, must be carefully monitored, but often it's the school secretary's job. In schools where unlicensed personnel dispense drugs to students, 66 percent of the time it's handled by the school secretary, according to a national study by the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA. Studies show about 6 percent of children in grades K-12 receive medications on a typical school day, half of them for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. "The larger context is that there simply are more children in school with health conditions requiring medication now than in the past," said Iowa researcher ANN MARIE MCCARTHY. "Children with complex health care needs used to be kept at home or placed in separate classrooms, but now they are integrated into regular classrooms."

LIU HEADS TEAM STUDYING GENE THERAPY (Wall Street Journal, Jan. 8)In a story attributed to Nature Magazine, the paper reports that a new form of gene therapy that fools the body into repairing the faulty gene in cystic-fibrosis sufferers is looking promising in the lab. XIAOMING LIU and colleagues at the University of Iowa used a technique dubbed "SMaRT" to sneak a decoy genetic sequence into diseased human-lung cells grafted into a living mouse. The cells' function was boosted by 10%, enough to keep the disease under control. Cystic fibrosis, the most common life-threatening genetic illness in Europe and the U.S., prevents salts from moving through body tissues properly, disrupting digestion and, more importantly, leading to chronic lung infection. Despite great advances in treatments, many patients don't reach adulthood, and no cure is available.http://interactive.wsj.com/archive/retrieve.cgi?id=SB1010430046587871600.djm

KELLY EXPLORES POLYNESIA'S PAST (New York Times, Jan. 8)A story about the search for Polynesia's beginnings says that radiocarbon dating of charcoal among shards of decorative pottery showed that adventurous seafarers had reached the Tonga islands between 850 B.C. and 900 B.C., making this the earliest known settlement in Polynesia. "We really don't have a good common-sense picture or story of what the migrations were really like," said Dr. John Edward Terrell, an anthropologist at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Terrell and two of his colleagues, Dr. KEVIN M. KELLY of the University of Iowa and Dr. Paul Rainbird of the University of Wales, said an important reason that Polynesians did not resemble their presumed Melanesian cousins or any Asian forebears was that, in a sense, the Polynesians did not "come from" anywhere. They became Polynesians after their ancestors settled in the Fiji Islands, Tonga and Samoa.http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/08/science/08POLY.html

WARREN TELLS OF THUMB-SUCKING RISKS (Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Jan. 8)Thumb-sucking or using pacifiers after age 2 could increase the chance of needing braces, researchers report. The findings, described recently in the Journal of the American Dental Association, cast doubt on conventional thinking that thumb-sucking is harmless if children quit before they are 5 to 8. The lead author, Dr. JOHN WARREN of the University of Iowa College of Dentistry, and his team based their report on an examination of 372 children in a long-term dental health study in Iowa. The researchers said they found most changes in bite among children who were still engaged in sucking behavior after age 4. Even before that, they said, potential problems could be spotted. The findings suggested that dentists should rethink the current advice to parents, Warren said.

PARROTT: UI DRINKING WATER DEEMED SAFE (Associated Press, Jan. 8)Drinking water in the University of Iowa's biology building is now safe to drink since chemicals have been flushed from the water system. School officials said Monday that the Iowa Hygienic Lab has tested the water and found the levels of the chemical acceptable for drinking. Public entrances to the building are now opened after having been locked last week as a precaution to the public from walking in and mistakenly drinking the contaminated water. A final report will be sent to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, STEVE PARROTT, director of university relations, said. Early last week, as much as 30 gallons of a 50-50 mixture of water and the antifreeze ethylene glycol seeped from the heating system to the potable water system. That happened after university plumbers were called to the building to fix a leak in the heating system. After fixing the leak, workers accidentally pumped the antifreeze back into the system.

MCCARTHY STUDIES DIABETES, LEARNING PROBLEMS (Yahoo! News, Jan. 8)Children with Type I diabetes don't seem to suffer any learning problems from the treatment for their blood sugar disease, a new study says. Although earlier research has suggested that Type I diabetics may have subtle neurological defects associated with the therapy that controls their blood glucose levels, the new work says these don't add up to trouble with math or reading in school. The findings, from researchers at the University of Iowa, appear in the January issue of the journal Pediatrics. ANN MARIE MCCARTHY and her colleagues at the University of Iowa compared the academic performances of 244 young diabetics and 319 of their classmates and siblings. The average age of the students was almost 15, and their average grade was the eighth. Despite the previous connection between diabetes treatment and cognitive deficits, McCarthy's group could find no fingerprint for these problems in school performance.http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/hsn/20020107/hl/diabetes_care_not_linked_to_learning_problems_1.html

WARREN WARNS OF THUMBSUCKING RISKS (Lexington Herald-Leader, Jan. 8)Children who use a pacifier or suck their thumbs at age 4 or beyond run a greater risk of developing an overbite and of altering the way their jaws fit together, says a recent study in The Journal of the American Dental Association. "The results of the study suggest some potential harm in continuing habits beyond 24 months of age, with greater risk of developing occlusal problems with ... habits persisting to 48 months of age and beyond," writes Dr. JOHN WARREN, assistant professor of preventive and community dentistry at the University of Iowa and the lead author. The Herald-Leader is based in Lexington, Ky. A version of the same story also ran Jan. 8 in the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS and Jan. 9 in the KANSAS CITY STAR.

MCCARTHY STUDIES DRUGS IN SCHOOLS (The State, Jan. 7)School employees, some licensed health care professionals, some not, are being called on more often to dispense powerful drugs and monitor the health of their students. A shortage of school nurses, coupled with two-income families and children without health insurance has made schools often the first-line of medical care for South Carolina's children. Drugs to control psychological problems, such as attention deficient disorder, must be carefully monitored, but often it's the school secretary's job. In schools where unlicensed personnel dispense drugs to students, 66 percent of the time it's handled by the school secretary, according to a national study by the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA. Studies show about 6 percent of children in grades K-12 receive medications on a typical school day, half of them for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. "The larger context is that there simply are more children in school with health conditions requiring medication now than in the past," said Iowa researcher ANN MARIE MCCARTHY. "Children with complex health care needs used to be kept at home or placed in separate classrooms, but now they are integrated into regular classrooms." The State is based in Columbia, S.C.

KELLY: TWINS ON BOTTOM PRONE TO FLAT HEADS (Yahoo! News, Jan. 7)Twins who ride out gestation on the bottom of the uterus are far more likely than their womb-mates to suffer a flattening of the skull and neck, a new study says. The findings take at least some of the onus off back sleeping for the recent dramatic rise in this defect, known as plagiocephaly, which is almost always treatable. Experts say the report, from researchers in Iowa and Arizona, is especially significant because as couples increasingly use fertility therapies to conceive, the number of multiple births in this country has surged. Almost half the parents in the latest study had used assisted reproduction, the researchers say. The researchers say they're not sure why womb position so greatly impacts skull structure. But they suggest the weight of the upper child forces the lower sibling's head against the disfiguring shape of the mother's pelvis, especially when the bottom baby's skull is pointed south. Exacerbating matters, many infants now spend a lot of time in car seats, carriers, kiddie swings and other apparatus when their skull bones are still malleable, the researchers say. "Kids are held less and moved around less," says KEVIN KELLY, a University of Iowa researcher and a co-author of the study.http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/hsn/20020107/hl/sharing_a_womb_can_flatten_skull_1.html

UI CREDIT UNION LOANS MONEY FOR HOUSING PROJECT (USA Today, Jan. 7)A local credit union wants a developer to prove that the war in Afghanistan has kept him from getting financing for a proposed housing project. Terry Stamper says that the Sept. 11 attacks and the war in Afghanistan have made lenders nervous. The UNIVERSITY OF IOWA CREDIT UNION loaned Stamper $650,000 to kickstart the project. His note comes due Jan. 12.http://www.usatoday.com/news/states/iamain.htm

PLAYWRIGHT WALLACE ATTENDED UI (San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 7)
"There's possibility in moments of crisis," playwright Naomi Wallace says over the phone from her home in rural northern England. "I hadn't really thought about it until you asked, but I do tend to choose eras where there is that pressure on people and on society in general. Because those are the times when, however it turned out, there were usually more options that things could've gone in different ways." Though far from a household name, Wallace -- whose "The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek" opens Thursday at Berkeley's Aurora Theatre -- has emerged as one of the most exciting new voices in American theater in recent years. A native of Kentucky, with an MFA in playwriting from the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, she'd achieved some success in London before receiving her first major U.S. productions in 1996. That year, Wallace's "One Flea Spare" -- a play of class conflict with a strong erotic undertow, set in London during the great plague of 1665 -- was the hit of the Actors Theatre of Louisville's annual new plays festival and went on to win an Obie in New York. The same spring, her "Slaughter City" (about labor strife in the meat-packing industry) was produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company and the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Mass.http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/01/07/DD16065.DTL

WARREN TELLS OF THUMB-SUCKING RISKS (Minneapolis Star Tribune, Jan. 7)
Thumb-sucking or using pacifiers after age 2 could increase the chance of needing braces, researchers report. The findings, described recently in the Journal of the American Dental Association, cast doubt on conventional thinking that thumb-sucking is harmless if children quit before they are 5 to 8. The lead author, Dr. JOHN WARREN of the University of Iowa College of Dentistry, and his team based their report on an examination of 372 children in a long-term dental health study in Iowa. The researchers said they found most changes in bite among children who were still engaged in sucking behavior after age 4. Even before that, they said, potential problems could be spotted. The findings suggested that dentists should rethink the current advice to parents, Warren said. http://www.startribune.com/stories/389/1006718.html
A version of this article appeared in the Jan. 21 DAILY NEWS of Woodland Hills, Calif.

WILLARD: UI READY TO TAKE OVER NADS (Chicago Tribune, Jan. 7)
The federal government is ready to hand over the steering wheel of an $80 million driving simulator to the University of Iowa, a decade after the university was chosen as home for the project. Authorization from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration for the university to take over operational control of the National Advanced Driving Simulator means research can begin. "It is the kickoff of human-factors research," said DEREK WILLARD, associate vice president for research at the university. "This is very good news. We've been anticipating this." NHTSA will provide operational support for the next year, but then will become another client that will pay to use the simulator. NHTSA scientists will conduct the first research projects, which are expected to get under way this month, Willard said.http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/automotive/chi-0201070124jan07.story

DYER COMMENTS ON NANCY DREW (Baltimore Sun, Jan. 7)
Millie Benson's desk doesn't stand out from any of the others in the newsroom. Tucked away in a corner, it is cluttered with papers and books. The original author of the Nancy Drew mystery books is still writing at age 96 -- now a weekly column about everyday life and older folks for the Toledo Blade newspaper. "Writing is a way of life for me," she says. "It's like getting up and having breakfast." Benson has written more than 130 books and countless short stories and newspaper articles. She is best known for bringing to life a young sleuth named Nancy Drew who inspired and captivated generations of girls. She wrote 23 of the 30 original Nancy Drew stories under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene, launching a series that is still in print and has sold more than 200 million books in 17 languages. "It's pretty much fair to say she created the character of Nancy Drew," says CAROLYN DYER, a University of Iowa journalism professor who wrote a book about the series. http://www.sunspot.net/features/lifestyle/bal-to.drew07jan07.story
The same Associated Press article ran Jan. 5 on the website of the MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE.http://www.startribune.com/stories/384/1009015.html

E-BOOK, BOUND BOOK RIVALRY A PAGE TURNER (Scripps Howard News Service, Jan. 6)
On that magical summer day, just before Alice tumbled after the White Rabbit, she playfully scoffed at her diligently reading sister.
"What's the use of a book," Alice asked, "without pictures or conversations?"
One hundred and thirty-seven years after Lewis Carroll first spun that famous tale, society is echoing Alice and questioning whether books will be relevant in the near future. The growing number of e-books and online literary archives can offer all the bells and whistles of music and moving pictures.
"It's true, the most wonderful digital devices are coming right around the corner," said TIMOTHY BARRETT, director of the 16-year-old Center for the Book at the University of Iowa. "But yet you turn on the TV to a major news show and the people being interviewed always have books behind them. The new fashion statement on campuses all around the country is to be seen with a book."

UI PRESS PUBLISHES BOOK ON SPORTS POEMS (Los Angeles Times, Jan. 6)Poetic license aside, can sports and poetry really coexist? Absolutely, says Cal State Northridge creative writing lecturer Noah Blaustein, editor of "Motion: American Sports Poems" (UNIVERSITY OF IOWA PRESS). From baseball to bullfighting, more than 30 sports are covered in poems by literary luminaries such as James Tate, Gary Soto, CHRISTOPHER MERRILL, Marianne Moore, Quincy Troupe and Sherman Alexie. Born and raised in Pacific Palisades, Blaustein, 32, grew up "playing everything." When not teaching or writing, he surfs every chance he gets, "from Venice to Zuma."http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/magazine/la-000001329jan06.story

HANSEN QUOTED IN STORY ON SEATBELT STUDY (Yahoo! News, Jan. 4)Most people know that wearing a seat belt can save their life, but now a new study shows that buckling up can also save the lives of the other people in the car. Drivers and front-seat passengers are at a five times greater risk of dying in a car accident if the passengers are not wearing seat belts, according to a study conducted at the University of Tokyo. The study, published in this week's issue of The Lancet, examined more than 100,000 front-seat occupants involved in car-to-car crashes between 1995 and 1999 in Japan. In all cases there were at least two passengers in the rear seat. According to the study, a great deal of injury to those in the front is caused by the force of the rear passenger being thrown forward. Based on the weight of an average adult, an unrestrained rear passenger is thrown forward with the force of more than 3 tons in a 30 mph crash. "They catapult into the front part of the vehicle and strike the upper body of the front-seat occupant in the back of the head and neck," said Dr. FRED HANSEN, an emergency room physician at the University of Iowa.http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/abc/20020104/hl/seatbeltsafety020104_1.html

UI INSTRUCTOR WRITES ON DOT.COM BUST (Houston Business Journal, Jan. 4)Scott Clark, a Cedar Rapids-based columnist who occasionally teaches at the TIPPIE COLLEGE OF BUSINESS, writes, "A scant 18 months ago, many of my students at the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA were still eager to create dot-com companies, having read about the millions of dollars raised in venture capital overnight and the soaring value of dot-com stocks." In retrospect, he writes, it's clear that the dot.com bubble was "fueled by greed rather than by sound business practices. Aspiring Internet entrepreneurs thought they could bypass the long haul to success and achieve instant wealth just by hanging out a dot-com shingle."http://houston.bcentral.com/houston/stories/2002/01/07/smallb3.html

PLEA PONDERED FOR BOMB-MAKING SUSPECTS (Associated Press, Jan. 4)Attorneys are attempting to work out a plea agreement for three former UNIVERSITY OF IOWA students accused of making pipe bombs in a dormitory. Attorneys for Adam Fisher, Nathan Krotz and Andrew Ritchie have asked 6th Judicial District Judge L. Vern Robinson to rule on whether the pipe bombs qualify as "offensive weapons." Fisher, 19, of Marion; Krotz, 20, of Ainsworth; and Ritchie, 19, of Riverside, were charged with unauthorized possession of offensive weapons after three pipe bombs were found in Fisher's Burge Residence Hall dorm room on March 22. Leon Spies, Fisher's attorney, has said that a plea offer has been made by Assistant Johnson County Attorney Emily Colby. "It has not been accepted because of disagreement about whether the conduct meets the charge filed," Spies said. The bombs were all made of PVC plastic piping and two of the three were filled with black powder. The third contained another flammable material. Other students in the dorm said the bombs were intended to be used to kill fish on fishing trips. Defense attorneys and Colby told Robinson they don't anticipate the men's cases going to trial on Jan. 14, the pending date for the trial.

GREEN, TRUE: UI MAY HIRE MORE OFFICERS (Associated Press, Jan. 4)The University of Iowa may be forced to hire more police officers despite the state's budget crunch. CHUCK GREEN, the department's director, said he is attempting to find out what is causing more strain in the department. But he acknowledged that there is at least one obvious reason that the department's 30 sworn police officers and 15 security guards are putting in more overtime than in the past: increased security since Sept. 11. For example, the department took over responsibility for security at the Hygienic Laboratory on the university's Oakdale Campus after the Iowa National Guard left in November. After the anthrax incidents of October, the Guard was called in to make sure the biological agents at the lab were kept safe. "We're looking at the total picture," Green said. In addition to security at the laboratory, the school's public safety department has had to beef up its efforts at major athletic events, Green said. For example, officers have to conduct additional sweeps of Carver-Hawkeye Arena before men's basketball games. "... We have to do what's necessary" to protect the campus, said DOUG TRUE, vice president for finance and university services, who oversees the public safety department. "It's not a question of money.... It's likely that we'll grow" because of the additional demands on the department in the past four months, he said.

DYER COMMENTS ON NANCY DREW (Washington Post, Jan. 3)
Millie Benson's desk doesn't stand out from any of the others in the newsroom. Tucked away in a corner, it is cluttered with papers and books. The original author of the Nancy Drew mystery books is still writing at age 96 -- now a weekly column about everyday life and older folks for the Toledo Blade newspaper. "Writing is a way of life for me," she says. "It's like getting up and having breakfast." Benson has written more than 130 books and countless short stories and newspaper articles. She is best known for bringing to life a young sleuth named Nancy Drew who inspired and captivated generations of girls. She wrote 23 of the 30 original Nancy Drew stories under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene, launching a series that is still in print and has sold more than 200 million books in 17 languages. "It's pretty much fair to say she created the character of Nancy Drew," says CAROLYN DYER, a University of Iowa journalism professor who wrote a book about the series.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55185-2002Jan3.html

UI ART STUDENT WINS CHAIR APPEAL (Associated Press, Jan. 3)
An artist who insisted on keeping a collection of chairs in her front yard has won a legal appeal. ELAINE BECK began putting a collection of chairs on the yard in front of her home last spring as a project for her UNIVERSITY OF IOWA graduate art project. She claimed the art form surfaced from the community's response to the various arrangements she produced with the chairs. A few residents complained to City Council members that the chairs were a nuisance. In June, the city sent a notice that she must remove the chairs because it violated a city nuisance ordinance and, 10 days letter, issued a municipal infraction citation. The city claimed Beck's display required a permit for an art exhibit or art show. In October, magistrate court ruled she violated Oskaloosa city code for not having the permit. Beck appealed, and a Mahaska County District Court judge overturned the ruling because the usual usage of the terms "art show" or "art exhibit" didn't apply to Beck's display of chairs.

BLACK EXPLAINS SHOPLIFTING MOTIVATIONS (Clarion Ledger, Jan. 2)A story that explores the motivation behind minor thefts by celebrities -- including, most recently, actress Winona Ryder's alleged shoplifting earlier this month of a bagful of clothing and hair accessories -- quotes DONALD BLACK, a psychiatrist at the University of Iowa College of Medicine who treats and studies compulsive shoppers, gamblers and shoplifters. "They come up with all kinds of excuses: 'It made me feel better'; 'It relieved my mood'; 'I felt good, and I was celebrating,'" Black said. Black has one patient, a woman in her early 80s, who has been nabbing cheap jewelry, key chains and other trinkets without apparent motive for 60 years. "Every once in a while she's caught, her name gets in the papers, and she's terribly embarrassed; this is a small town," Black said. "When I ask why, she simply says, 'Oh, I can't explain it, Dr. Black. I just have to take things.'" Black believes that kleptomania is related to compulsive shopping, habitual gambling and other so-called impulse-control disorders. In an ongoing study comparing 30 problem gamblers with 30 non-gamblers of similar age and education, he's finding evidence that impulse problems often run in families. "I expect to find kleptomania is more common in this group as well," he said. "My own view is that there's a tendency toward impulsive behavior that is inherited and expressed in different ways; one of those may be kleptomania." The Ledger is based in Jackson, Miss. A version of the story also ran Dec. 31 in the TAMPA TRIBUNE of Florida and Dec. 28 in the ORLANDO SENTINEL

WEILER STUDIES MEDICINE EFFECTS ON DRIVERS (Los Angeles Times, Jan. 2)
Motorists who wouldn't think of driving after having a couple of beers don't think twice about getting behind the wheel after taking sedating medicine. But they should, some recent medical studies have found, because driving under the influence of some medications, even over-the-counter drugs, can be as dangerous as driving drunk. In a study conducted at the University of Iowa, a sedating antihistamine was found to affect driving performance more than alcohol. Lead author Dr. JOHN M. WEILER, a professor of internal medicine, presented his views at a recent government meeting. In an earlier study of his, he asked 40 subjects who suffered from ragweed allergy to rate their level of drowsiness while driving on a simulator after taking diphenhydramine (Benadryl) or fexofenadine (Allegra), both over-the-counter antihistamines taken for allergies, and after drinking alcohol or taking a placebo pill.http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/highway1/la-000000393jan02.story

FOUR WITH UI TIES WILL CARRY OLYMPIC TORCH (Associated Press, Jan. 2)
The Olympic Torch Relay from Olympia, Greece, to Salt Lake City, Utah, covers 13,500 miles, and 10 Eastern Iowans will carry it for 1.8 of them on Jan. 5, 8 and 9. They'll be decked out in special jackets, T-shirts, wind pants, fleece hats, and gloves and they've even had instructions on what constitutes appropriate underwear. The group includes four Iowa City residents with various connections to the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA. KAY ASHTON, a registered nurse at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics; SARA SWAILS, who has been a running coach at West High School, head cross country coach at the University of Iowa and an assistant track coach for the Hawkeyes; KELLY GRAFING, who is now in her second year of medical school at the University of Iowa; and DAN FOSTER, an athletic trainer for the University of Iowa.

WARREN STUDIES THUMB-SUCKING RISKS (New York Times, Jan. 1)
Thumb sucking or pacifier use after age 2 may increase the risk of conditions like buck teeth and the eventual need for braces, researchers report. The findings, described in the current issue of The Journal of the American Dental Association, cast doubt on conventional thinking about the safety of the habit, which had generally been regarded as harmless if the children quit before they were 5 to 8. The lead author, Dr. JOHN J. WARREN of the University of Iowa College of Dentistry, and his team based their report on an examination of 372 children taking part in a long-term dental health study in Iowa.http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/01/health/children/01HABI.html

CHOI POSITS THEORY ON IBS (Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News, Jan. 2002)
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common -- and misunderstood -- GI disorders in the U.S. Recent research suggests that fructose intolerance may be an issue for some IBS patients. YOUNG K. CHOI, M.D., a gastroenterologist at the University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, found that patients with symptoms that could be diagnosed as IBS were not properly digesting fructose. Because of the prevalence of fruit sugars in the typical American diet, some experts feel this hypothesis merits follow-up.